I think its a water softener system problem

The water softener system I have is Kinetco.

One day I was taking a shower and my water pressure literally went dead. I then checked the faucets throughout the house and most generated a trickle. Even the lines to feeding water to the toilets were clogged.

I removed the screens under each faucet head and they were clogged with some sort of grit. In the shower head, when I took it off, the grit was yellow...maybe a tablespoon's worth. When I took off the faucet head in the kitchen, the grit was green...it too had at least a tablespoon's worth of the stuff.

I have filled up my bucket to mop the floors and after I tossed the water and the water in the bucket evaporated, I noticed some of the yellow grit at the bottom of the bucket.

Is this a problem with my water softener system? If so, is this something I can repair myself or is it better to get someone from Kinetco to fix?

The water coming into the house passes through a water filter. After passing through the filter, the water goes into 2 cylindars...the look like very large oxygen tanks. The water goes into the first cylindar and is outflow is from the second tank sends the water to the water line in the house. There is a large tub for the backwash. There is a valve that connects between the input/output lines of the two cylindars. I assume this is some sort of shutoff valve but for what...I don't know. Should I screw it all the way in or all the way out? Will that help until I get the problem fixed? Should my hot water system be drained? It seems OK but I am sure some of the grit has headed it's way too.

Thanks for any input.

Reply to
Salad
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"Salad" wrote

Yellow is not a normal color of softening resin. Most resin is a golden brown to black but there's a good possibility it is resin from your softener. The valve you mention is a by-pass valve if I'm correct. You should by-pass the softener to prevent any more of the resin to get into your plumbing. It can block things up that are expensive to clear. Like dishwasher and clothes washer solenoid valves and toilet tank fill valves. It won't hurt to drain the water heater but resin won't harm a heater.

The cause of this is that the distributor tube or distributor basket (one each in each of the resin tanks) has cracked, split or otherwise broken allowing resin into the plumbing past the softener. If this is what has happened, you need to stop it and the only way is to take the tanks apart and inspect the internal parts.

Resin is plastic. Try burning some of the "grit". If it melts/burns it's resin. Put some in vinegar. If it fizzes or dissolves, it's not resin but hardness scale. Which would explain the color.

Gary Quality Water Associates

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Reply to
Gary Slusser

Any chance it is particles from a disintegrating dip tube?

Reply to
Alan

"Alan" wrote

Although I don't recall the situation but yes it could be from a dip tube.

Gary Quality Water Associates

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Reply to
Gary Slusser

Thanks for the replies. I am having the water softener people come out Modnay and check it out. He said the same thing about the distributor tube/basket.

Reply to
Salad

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